Human health risks from heavy metals in fish of Buriganga river, Bangladesh

Md Kawser Ahmed; Mohammad Abdul Baki; Goutam Kumar Kundu; Md Saiful Islam; Md Monirul Islam; Md Muzammel Hossain

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-3357-0

Human health risks from heavy metals in fish of Buriganga river, Bangladesh

Springerplus. 2016 Oct 3;5(1):1697. doi: 10.1186/s40064-016-3357-0. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Md Kawser Ahmed¹, Mohammad Abdul Baki², Goutam Kumar Kundu³, Md Saiful Islam⁴, Md Monirul Islam³, Md Muzammel Hossain²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oceanography, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000 Bangladesh.
² Department of Zoology, Jagannath University, Dhaka, 1000 Bangladesh.
³ Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1100 Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Risk Management and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 240-8501 Japan.

Abstract

Heavy metals are known to cause deleterious effects on human health through food chain. Human health risks were evaluated from consumption of heavy metal contaminated fish from Buriganga River in Bangladesh. Whole body of five fish species (Puntius ticto, Puntius sophore, Puntius chola, Labeo rohita and Glossogobius giuris) were analyzed which contained various concentrations of Cd, As, Pb, Cr, Ni, Zn, Se, Cu, Mo, Mn, Sb, Ba, V and Ag. Concentrations of Mn, Zn, Se and Pb in all fish species were above the Food Safety Guideline (FSG) by WHO/FAO. Assessment of noncarcinogenic health hazard by target hazard quotient (THQ) indicated no concern from consumption of these fish except for Mn. However, all metals together may affect human health as revealed by hazard index (HI). The target cancer risk (TR) values suggested carcinogenic risk from Ni and As. Taken together it can be concluded that there is potential human health risk in consuming fish from river Buriganga.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Buriganga river; Fish; Hazard index (HI); Heavy metal; Human health; Target hazard quotient (THQ).